Downtown Regina will see its skyline transformed over the next few years, Colliers says, as new office space is completed. Projects include buildings on 11th Avenue, 12th Street, Elphinstone and Dewdney and a 437,000-square-foot tower on the corner of Rose Street and 12th Avenue.
Colliers cited other signs of the province's commercial real estate action:
-- Regina has so little serviced industrial and commercial land available, some companies are looking for sites in the nearby rural municipalities of Sherwood and Edenwold;
-- Saskatchewan developers' traditional aversion to constructing buildings "on spec" is finally easing in the face of heavy demand and rising prices. Recently, Western Investor labelled Regina developers as "gutless" for failing to build on spec in the face of unprecedented demand for all types of commercial real estate; and
-- retail space is also in short supply, with future expansion targeted to the Grasslands plus the new area east of Pasqua Street between Rochdale Boulevard and Highway 11.
Behind the retail boom is a healthy provincial economy that saw 7.3 per cent growth in retail sales in Regina last year, with about the same rate expected in 2012.
Tom McClocklin, Colliers' Saskatchewan president, said Regina led the country with an estimated 5.3 per cent economic growth rate last year, trailed closely by Saskatoon, and a similar pattern is expected this year.
from Western Investor April 2012
